Chapter 7

"Does anybody see him?"

Shepard chuckled lightly under her breath as she listened to her radio, the chatter almost frantic and agitated. She loved it when the mercs were stupid enough to leave their comms on open channels, it meant she knew where they were and what they were up to and at the moment it seemed that they were aware of the assassin in the complex, just not where. Throughout the towers she been getting mixed reports about the assassin's location and began to wonder if the Eclipse mercs were purposefully misleading her but now she was positive that they were all just incompetent. It almost seemed like the assassin wanted to get caught seeing as they knew he was at the towers despite their lack of coordination or maybe he knew Shepard was there and was putting on a good show. Or maybe he was practically sending the mercs her way to slow her down. Either way it looked like the man was moving fast so Shepard was going to have to pick up the pace before he disappeared.

"I think someone saw him on one of the lower levels... Agh!"

Shepard heard a strange clanking and banging sound, as though something was beating its way through the air ducts above her. As she continued walking a gust of wind hit her back and a loud crunching sound like broken bones was heard shortly after. She turned on her heel to see a dead merc just a couple feet from her, his limbs snapped at odd angles, a leg snapped forward, an arm snapped back and the head twisted to the side. A gruesome sight but the Spectre had seen far worse in her time in the Alliance. Shepard walked over to the dead body, assuming he was the one who had all of a sudden screamed on over the comm. The dead merc had almost landed on her and she glanced up through a service tunnel she suspected the body fell from. She saw a green figure, the features hard to make out in the shadows, staring down at her with what looked like a smirk gracing his lips.

"Watch where you're throwing mercs around! I'm walking here!" she could have sworn she heard a faint chuckle from the green figure before it disappeared in a blur "It's not a race you know!" she shouted up through the tunnel. Her only reply was the sound of more mercs being taken out over the radio.

"I think our assassin believes otherwise, Shep" piped up the hooded thief, her painted lips pulled in a smile as she followed the Commander's gaze up the duct.

"Maybe we should give him a run for his money" Jack readied her shotgun with a threatening gleam in her eyes as the sounds of footsteps grew closer, followed by shouts and orders.

Shepard snapped her fingers "Alright ladies, time to get this show on the road"

Shepard and Kasumi engaged their stealth modes to sneak around to flank the enemies as Jack distracted the mercs, her biotics flaring everywhere and causing nothing but chaos. This worked well until they came across a narrow hallway filled with mercs and mechs. When one went down it seemed to just be replaced by another and another. The narrow hall made it difficult to get any leverage on the mercs but luckily it worked both ways as their large numbers didn't help much besides slow them. They ducked behind crates waiting for the firing to ease up. Shepard ordered Jack to take the mercs with her biotics after Kasumi overloaded their shields while Shepard herself tried to rewrite the mechs targeting but every time they killed enough enemies to move forward they encountered more not ten feet later.

All the gunshots were probably acting like a beacon drawing all the mercenaries right to them leaving the assassin with an opening to get to Nassana and flee. Shepard was not about to let the man get away so easily meaning it was time for some improvising. Shepard took a quick glance from behind the crate and saw explosives near a large window with a half dozen mercs standing just close enough to get caught in the blast radius should they go off.

"Goto, I need a distraction so get the disco ball out. Jack, I'm about to light up the dance floor, if any of our partners are still standing kick them out of the club"

Kasumi tossed a flash grenade over the crate in the middle of the hired thugs blinding them and at the sound of its bang Shepard drew herself out of cover and shot out her incineration at the barrels before jumping back behind cover. As soon as the fire reached the barrels they exploded and the glass window shattered and the screams of dying men filled the room. One glance around and Shepard saw most of them had been taken out by the explosion but a few still stood in front of the window staggering with fire licking up their limbs. From the corner of her eye she saw Jack leap over some crates and her biotics flared to life sending the remaining enemies through the broken window to plummet to their death hundreds of feet below. The Commander moved from cover once the coast was clear and gave the area another sweep with her eyes as her companions moved about. Blowing up a building wasn't usually her style, despite what the Council believed, but it was effective. Everyone in the building knew where they were but still effective.

"You've got a strange way of giving orders, Shepard" Jack said as she kicked a dead merc over the ledge to join the rest below on the busy streets of Illium. The cops probably loved the Commander right now with the entire cleanup she was giving them. Shepard just hoped they got out of the Dantius Towers before the authorities came. Not everyone appreciated a Spectre in the Terminus system.

"You complaining?"

A sinister smile crept its way on the tattooed woman's face "Nope"

"Let's go before more show up"

The girls raced through the tower coming across several salarian workers locked away in rooms, all of them scared and jittery. They claimed someone had herded them in and locked it before they heard the sounds of people dying, most likely the mercs that the team found near the doors. Whoever the assassin was he didn't let innocents get in the middle of his mission opting to find a path around them instead of through, something Shepard approved of, it was something Cerberus didn't bother to do. You stepped in between Cerberus and their goal and you were as good as dead for all they cared. It was a little strange though, Shepard wasn't an expert on assassins but she never heard of them protecting civilians. Maybe the Illusive Man was starting to understand how she worked a mission and was giving her more competent people to fight. Now just to get the assassin's attention before he killed his target and left. So the salarians told her that Nassana, the assassin's target, was in the penthouse on the other tower. They would have to take the elevator and cross the bridge to get there.

The bridge however was not easy to navigate through. Mercs crawled the length of it and if the girls weren't careful they would get blown off, the winds strong up so high and surviving a fall from their height was impossible, most likely they'd end up a pretty red smear on someone's windshield. They made it half way across the bridge when Shepard heard the whistling sound of a rocket. She ducked behind a stack of heavy steel crates and felt them reverberate when the rocket impacted. Shepard tried to look around the corner but as soon as she did she saw another rocket headed for her. She drew back and the sound of creaking came from the crates protecting her, they could only take a few more hits but Shepard could only determine the shots were being fired from a higher position. She activated her cloak as she pulled out her sniper and rounded the corner. She scoped out two turrets and shot one of them down before her stealth mode ended.

She went back behind cover trying to figure out how to get the last turret. She wasn't close enough to overload its systems and she didn't have time to wait for her stealth to recharge. She put away her sniper and pulled out the Viper rifle she had come across. Before she could use it though she saw a blur run past her position. She risked a glance to see Jack firing on the mercs still on the bridge and was either unaware of the turret or just didn't care. Shepard ran out of cover and aimed at the turret firing in quick succession just as the turret launched another rocket but it was too late to stop a rocket from leaving the barrel. Shepard pounced on the crazed biotic as the remaining rocket propelled toward them. The two fell to the ground, Shepard covering the smaller woman's body.

"Damn it, look out!" the rocket whizzed just over head, colliding with some crates and sending shrapnel everywhere. Shepard curled her body around her less armored squad mate to protect her from the sharp pieces of flying metal. Shepard faintly heard the sounds of more explosions surrounding them. They were stuck in a tough spot and it sure as hell didn't help when her team didn't look where they were going. The geth refused to let up and Shepard already had one teammate unconscious, she was not about to add another one to the list. The attack caught them all by surprise and Garrus had hit the ground before the Commander knew it. Now it was just her and Tali. The quarian might have been given training before leaving the Flotilla but it's not the same as being on the battlefield.

"Stay down!" she barked as she leapt from cover and aimed. It was risky but she couldn't pray and wait for the geth to cease fire. Bullets soared past her head and hit her shields which flickered on and off, its power low, as she lined her sniper up with her target. She fired, loaded and fired again until the AI crumpled to the floor. She ducked back down before any bullets could get past her shields.

"I didn't need your help!" Jack barked as she reached for her fallen gun.

"You're welcome!" Shepard climbed off the fuming woman, ignoring the stream on insults and continued forward firing her new Viper in quick succession as she took out as many of the thugs as she could before reaching the safety of more crates.

This assassin ought to be worth it because damn is this getting annoying fast, Shepard groaned inwardly as she heard a door open releasing more mercs for them to fight. Luckily it seemed to be the last batch that ran out of the Penthouse as the group finished them off. Shepard was about to walk up the stairs as she felt a small hand clasp around her wrist. She turned a quizzical look to the thief, her face unreadable, eyes hidden beneath her hood. Just as she was about to question Kasumi the thief held out a handkerchief and waved a hand toward Shepard's face.

The Commander took it, giving the woman a curt nod and rubbed the cloth beneath her nose before continuing ahead into the Penthouse, not bothering to look down at the blood that coated the cloth. As soon as the doors slid open the team was greeted by a small band of mercs surrounding the asari, Nassana, with weapons poised and ready to shoot. Shepard was about to fire on them until Nassana raised a hand to stop her hired mercenaries.

"Shepard? I thought you were dead"

The Commander smirked at the unoriginal line, it was the first thing that came out of everyone's mouth "I got better"

"And now you're here to kill me, just like you killed my sister. Is this suppose to be some sort of justice?"

"Nah, just bitter irony. Your policy really shouldn't be 'kill family and employees first, ask questions later.' I hear it's bad for business" Shepard swore she heard a faint yet deep chuckle as the asari glared at her from the opposite side of the desk. Chatting with this woman irked her every time ever since she had been tricked into killing the asari's own sister. She ignored Nassana's expression when she heard a faint banging from above in the air ducts. Nassana barked at the mercs who had started to get nervous apparently unable to tell where the noise had come from. The woman cursed before ordering them to check the exits as she turned back to Shepard.

"How much?" the asari demanded.

"Excuse me?"

"Whatever they paid you to kill me I'll double it"

"I'm not here to kill you, you over paranoid piece of trash"

"Then why are you here?" Nassana yelled, voice almost hysterical. It was clear the woman was fed up with the Spectre but Shepard couldn't care less.

"I'm looking for the person who is here to kill you"

The asari growled at the human Spectre "After I kill this assassin I will deal with you personally!" Just then a shadow fell from the ceiling and snapped the neck of a merc before spinning around to grab a gun from another one's hands shooting it off at the rest and turned to Nassana. The pistol was shoved in her stomach and a single shot was fired. The green blur that had danced about the room slowed as he gently lowered the woman on to her desk and clasped his hands in front of him.

So this is a drell? Shepard thought as she gave a long whistle at the quick assassin, impressed by his speed and skill. He stood in front of the window, the warm orange glow of the sun setting behind him with his head bowed. His green and black scales glittered in the light and his red crests on the side of his face helped add a shadow hiding the man's face. If she didn't know any better she'd think she was reading one of those sappy romances where the hero saves the day just in time to ride off into the sunset. She hated those books the most, they were too gooey for her tastes and way too unbelievable. Shepard believed in love but all those books were written to make everything sound perfect. Now wasn't the time to think about stupid romance books, right now an assassin stood before her.

Shepard guessed by the pose that the man was praying, though not religious herself she knew many who were and respected their beliefs. So instead of interrupting him she walked forward to take a seat in one of the leather office chairs at the desk crossing her legs at the knee and waited for the man to look up.

Jack however was not as patient "You just gonna ignore us lizard boy?"

Shepard saw the man's brows furrow and right before he could say anything the Commander replied for him "He's praying"

The assassin threw her a surprised look but quickly smoothed his emotions over, continuing his neutral expression "Correct. I apologize but prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken" came the deep rumbling reply of the assassin.

"For that bitch?" Jack growled.

"Not for her. For me" with that the man proceeded to walk around the table, a hand grazing the top of the desk. The sun hit the woman casually reclining in the chair. He continued to speak "The measure of an individual can be difficult to discern by actions alone. Take you for instance, all this destruction… chaos"

He froze as he looked into the human's eyes. Sunset eyes defiant in the scope. He shook the memory from his head quickly as he gave the woman another look. The woman's eyes did not actually resemble a sunset, it was merely the lighting from the sun behind him. The blonde haired woman met his gaze evenly and he saw that her eyes were a deep blue, deep like the sea. The sunset danced in her eyes making the sea look as though it was on fire and he saw an equal fire in the woman's aura, truly a woman not to mess with. However she kept a cool exterior and a welcoming smile on her face.

He had heard the rumors about Commander Shepard's prowess and her rise into the ranks of Spectre and he got to see just how true those rumors were. Though his objective was to kill Nassana as quickly and silently as possible he could not help but watch the human plow through the building, explosions and gun fire ringing throughout the towers. At first he assumed that she was there to kill him until he saw her firing on the mercenaries and rescuing the salarian workers. She worked fast, racing from one side of the room to another, quick to switch from long to close range weapons, and was innovative though loud. He preferred to get things done quietly and he suspected she did too but she didn't have any luck. Though her fighting skills proved the rumor true it was clear that not all of the rumors were accurate including the one where the woman in front of him was supposed to be dead. Certain he was not looking at a ghost he surmised that journalists only made the story up to get a rise out of the public but regardless that was not important. What was important was why this woman was looking for him.

"I was curious to see how far you'd go to find me. Well, here I am"

"So I see" Shepard drawled as the assassin stopped in front of the gun Jack still held out. He didn't seem particularly worried about the crazy biotic but the Commander could see she was still itching to shoot someone. Shepard gave swift nod and a frown at the biotic. Jack reluctantly lowered her shotgun. They needed the assassin and making him feel unwelcome was not a great start to their relationship.

"What can I do for you?" he asked politely, turning once more toward Shepard.

"Ever heard of the Collectors?"

"By reputation"

"They're kidnapping human colonists, most likely for the Reapers, and I plan on stopping them. Cerberus recommended you"

"Cerberus?"

"Yep" the unusually quiet thief finally spoke up from behind the biotic "I bet the pro-human group is pulling their own teeth each time Shep here recruits an alien"

"What can I say? I love driving them mad mind you they are the ones sending them to me. Now that I think about it seems of" the Commander shook her head, she was changing the subject "So will you help? Cerberus has an offer waiting on the table if you want compensation"

"Stopping the Collectors would mean going through the Omega-4 Relay and nobody has come back alive. It's suicide"

"That's what they said about Ilos" Shepard smirked at the thought.

"True. You've made a career on performing the impossible" the man strode back to face the window as he contemplated the woman's words "This was to be my last mission. I'm dying"

Shepard was caught off guard by the blunt statement, not many liked to share such details and if they did they were usually looking for pity maybe even empty someone's pocket. She knew that was not the case for the assassin. She stood and walked next to the assassin "I'm sorry"

The man was surprised by the Commander's tone. He expected pity or for her to ask if he had a disease but she didn't "I'm trying to make the world a bit brighter before I die and saving your colonists seems like the noble thing to do. I will join you" he turned and firmly shook the woman's hand and hastily added "Free of charge"

"Welcome aboard, Thane Krios" the woman smiled, eyes still alit with fire from the sunset "I suggest you buckle up for a bumpy ride"